Similar acts today resulted to the death of Zainab Hassan 47 yrs-old mother of 2 girls from Sitra who suffocated in a tear gas attack on her home. Not an accident, this is an extrajudicial killing, a murder by the State of Bahrain on the order of King Hamad.

Where are your “Investigators” now King Hamad? You deceive no one but yourself, you are naked in your fools clothes and your time has run out. Your hatred, arrogance and rage is your undoing, your kingdom has fallen…

The Significance of Human Rights Watch’s New Call To Prosecute Bush Officials For Torture
By Jeffrey Kaye – The Public Record – Jul 14th, 2011

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new report Tuesday. As they stated in the press release announcing the 107-page report, “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees” (HTML, PDF), there is “overwhelming evidence of torture by the Bush administration.” As a result, President Barack Obama is obliged “to order a criminal investigation into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by former President George W. Bush and other senior officials.”

In particular, HRW singled out “four key leaders” in the torture program. Besides former President George W. Bush, the report indicts former Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet. But others remain possible targets of investigation and prosecution. According to the report:

Such an investigation should also include examination of the roles played by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Attorney General John Ashcroft, as well as the lawyers who crafted the legal “justifications” for torture, including Alberto Gonzales (counsel to the president and later attorney general), Jay Bybee (head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)), John Rizzo (acting CIA general counsel), David Addington (counsel to the vice president), William J. Haynes II (Department of Defense general counsel), and John Yoo (deputy assistant attorney general in the OLC).

But the key passage in the HRW report concerns the backing for international prosecutions, under the principle in international law of “universal jurisdiction,” which was used back in 1998 by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón to indict former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for genocide and murder. …more

Bahrain: Silence surrounding repression continues
12 July 2011 – FIDH

In February 2011, following the example of the revolts in Tunisia and in Egypt, a protest movement developed calling for profound political and social reform in Bahrain. In response to these peaceful demonstrations the army fired on protesters and Gulf Cooperation Council troops intervened.

The brutal repression resulted in the death of several dozen people, hundreds of wounded and arbitrary arrests.

In recent weeks the protests have become less intensive but repression has been even greater, extending to doctors and medical staff. Human rights defenders who are not arrested or who have not disappeared are victims of regular acts of intimidation.

Massive lay-offs in factories and businesses, censorship and proceedings against journalists are the government’s response to the longings for freedom and social justice. …source

Mass pro-reform protests planned in Egypt
Jul 15, 2011

CAIRO – ACTIVISTS have called for rallies across Egypt on Friday, capping a week of nationwide sit-ins to demand political change as anger grows with the military rulers over the slow pace of reform.

More than 28 movements have called for the rallies which seek to pressure the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) – which took power when president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February – to respond to their demands.

Protesters are calling for a defined and transparent plan for the transition, criticising the military junta for their absolute grip on power.

Among the key demands are an end to the military trials of civilians, the redistribution of wealth and the open and speedy trials of former regime officials.

They also want police accused of torturing and killing protesters – whether before or during the January 25 uprising – to be brought to justice.

The mounting tension has prompted both the government and the military council to offer some concessions in a bid to placate the protesters. — AFP …source